8.
Passing PageRank
Spiders Following a Link
Treats the link like a vote
of popularity on a subject
(subject may partially be
defined by anchor text)
Spiders/search bots use
links like a highway to find
new content and index it
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

10.
“You want to be #1 on
Google? All you have to do
is spend a lot of money
advertising on Google…”
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

11.
• Natural search results are derived from an
Algorithmic math formula factoring in at least
200 different factors about websites…none of
which includes advertising spend
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

13.
• Penguin focused on
linkspam
• “Any links intended to
manipulate PageRank or a
site's ranking in Google
search results may be
considered part of a link
scheme and a violation of
Google’s Webmaster
Guidelines. This includes
any behavior that
manipulates links to your
site.”
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

15.
“SEO is easy. If you want to
rank #1 for “Crossover
Vehicles”, just buy the
domain:
www.crossovervehicles.com
and Voila!
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

16.
• Then Google rolled out the Exact
Match Domain Update
• You no longer can get strong
rankings solely based on your
domain name. You have to fulfill the
other ranking requirements too.
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

17.
• Maybe not dead, just not as important
as before.
• Google’s guidelines re: link schemes
– “Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases
distributed on other sites.”
• Google: If you are publishing a press release or an article on your
site and distribute it through a wire or through an article site, you
must make sure to nofollow the links if those links are “optimized
anchor text.”
• Pubcon 2013, Matt Cutts:
– Press releases are considered “paid links”
– Google just doesn’t count them
– Press release anchor-text linking isn’t necessarily helping you today
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

20.
Late July 2013
PubCon – Oct 2013 - During Q&A, Cutts discussed links from press release sites. He said Google
identified the sites that were press release syndication sites and simply discounted them. He does
stress that press release links weren’t penalized, because press release sites do have value for
press and marketing reasons, but those links won’t pass PageRank.
“Google has identified “a lot” of the top Press Release sites and ignores the links but
doesn’t penalize those who are using them.”
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCHMOJO.COM
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

21.
• There are MILLIONS of press releases with links in them
that have existed for years on MILLIONS of different sites
• They aren’t going to require anyone to find every
instance of these and find the locations of every reprint
so that you can request the nofollow attribute on the link
• Most press release distributors don’t even have an option
to make links nofollow
• The real burden is on the PR distribution service to make
links nofollow on a going forward basis
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCHMOJO.COM
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

22.
• Expect a Google Power Play vs.
Press Release Distributors.
“Google has identified “a lot” of the top
Press Release sites and ignores the links
but doesn’t penalize those who are using
them.”
– Likely use of “User Generated Spam
Penalties” that remove offending pages from
the Google Index
– Google will force nofollow on the Press
Release distributors
– Real benefit is in the distribution, not on the
distributor site
• Again, these are most likely going
forward changes. Not retro-active
punishments
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCHMOJO.COM
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

23.
“A true guest blogger is usually someone who is
an expert on the subject matter and doesn’t drop
a heavy amount of keywords in their anchor
text.”
“Guest blogging seems like it’s the fad of the
month,” said Cutts, but he says it is best done in
moderation. “It shouldn’t be your full-time job.”
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

24.
• Facebook Shares are the
biggest ranking factor…
• Facebook Likes are a
ranking factor
• Social media follower
counts can get you to the
top
• Google +1’s are ranking
factor
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

28.
• Google does not use Facebook
share data – in fact Facebook
blocks access to that data
Matt Says…
• Google does not use Google
+1 votes as a ranking factor:
– “(I’m) Just trying to decide the politest way to debunk
the idea that more Google +1s lead to higher Google
web rankings.”
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

29.
• Links on Facebook Fan or Company pages still count a
little
– Also open Personal Facebook pages with no privacy
settings
• Links on Social Channels without the nofollow attribute
count
– Sometimes third-party aggregator sites strip off the
nofollow
• Don’t expect a lot from these kind of links. They don’t
scale into much.
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

35.
• Site maps are more about giving search engines an
efficient, clutter free path to look at your web
pages
• Benefits:
– Deeper Indexing
– More Frequent Indexing
• Don’t assume your site is easy to crawl
• Site Maps are not likely to improve rankings unless
they allow a page to be found that search engines
haven’t seen before
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCHMOJO.COM
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

37.
• “…new engine built on both existing and new
parts, organized in a way to especially serve
the search demands of today”
• Affects 90% of all searches
• The search demands of today are mobile style
conversational searches
– “What is the best place to eat hamburgers
in Charlottesville”
– “When does Big Head Todd and the
Monsters play Charlottesville”
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCHMOJO.COM
SEARCH-MOJO.COM

38.
• Google Announced the Algorithm update
on September 26, but it was actually
rolled out on August 20
• We can’t tell that a single ranking from
our clients was impacted at all
• So much press, so much discussion, so
much supposition…
@searchmojo #mojowebinar
SEARCHMOJO.COM
SEARCH-MOJO.COM